El Diablo

• Butruss El Khoury, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2014

A 34 year old trucker named Sanchez has made a stop at the Plumpton service centre after a week’s drive starting from Wollongong and stopping at multiple areas for breaks and deliveries. He ordered a black coffee during his stop at the Plumpton service centre. The lady barista came by and handed him an espresso, Sanchez grabbed the ladies hand and with a whip of his wrist “I ordered a black coffee señorita, not an espresso” he said in a heavy mexican accent. The lady looked at him confused and replied with a stern voice “I see it was my mistake I didn’t take your order correctly” He yanked the seat back and the lady gave him the espresso for free. He started to feel dizzy.

Sanchez turned into a motor inn and decided to take a nap to ease the dizziness. He dimmed the lights and took a hot shower, Esteban was already asleep while he was getting changed in his pyjamas and went to sleep. In his dreams he started to hallucinate, he saw a red figure appear, Diablo, Diablo stood there with a grin on his face as he tore an object from Sanchez chest and then laughed maniacally as he faded away into a thick river of smog. He felt a wet sensation on his face, he woke up with a sudden jolt and saw Esteban licking his face.

He wandered off into the woods with Esteban, they saw a river of brown smog like in his dream. They both approached the abandoned park bench near the river with caution. Sanchez lifted Esteban up and onto the seat, He would never let his companion leave his side, its his one friend that always helps him in his time of need and is loyal to him no matter what. They waited for nearly one hour until the smog started to shift and a red dark figure emerge from beneath it, they pair looked in awe as a human like figure approached them with a grim smile on his face. It was the devil himself, Diablo, the man sat down near Esteban like he had seen him before and patted his head casually. “So Sanchez have you been avoiding me? seems like you are” he said in an ghastly tone. Sanchez sighed and replied with a slight tremble in his voice “ no señor Diablo, i haven’t i’ve just been having a lot of troubles lately and its been hard to contact you” Diablo grinned and just sat back. He looked at Sanchez and just waited a minute then rocked back and said “so… you going to repay me or what? do i need to do it my self?”.

Sanchez pulled out a rare object from his pocket and handed it to him, Diablo inspected it and threw it into the river, “ what else you got this is useless to me” he said with a bored face. Sanchez looked at Diablo and said to him “what was that for, it was my way of repaying you” Diablo laughed and said “ you really think you can trick me?” They both looked at each other and Diablo took Esteban, “you have failed to repay me and now i will take back what i gave to you” He walked into the river with Esteban in and disappeared into the smog. Sanchez dropped to the floor and remembered what the fortune teller said, Never make a deal with the devil.

Please disregard my other entry was not completed correctly, other entry was under peter el Khoury, thank you